


Renewed Chances

by myscribblings



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Person of Interest (TV), Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game), The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:35:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22324918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myscribblings/pseuds/myscribblings
Summary: The Machine has begun to detect anomalies, things that no one could have predicted, as inhabitants from other universes begin to appear in New York City.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	1. Another Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vaylin's introduction.

"Choice. I could get used to that."

She had known even as she said it that it wasn’t true. She would not have the chance. She was dead, the only thing holding her spirit here was her hated father. She would not let him control her, not anymore, but once he was gone, she would swiftly follow. 

As he finally fell, she was engulfed in light. It was almost pleasant. She thought that oblivion might not be so bad. She saw her remaining family, looking at her sadly as they faded, returning to their lives. She smiled at them, unsure if she was trying to comfort or hurt. When they were gone, she looked up to the false sky, closed her eyes, and waited for her end for the third time.

She wished one last time that she could have had that chance, and was gone.

She opened her eyes, surprised that she was able to. She looked about: she was in an alley, a few strangely dressed men were staring at her. The air was foul. There was filth on the ground. She had not been in the Undercity of Zakuul, but this reminded her of what she imagined it must be like, except that she could see the sky between the tall, ugly buildings.

“Hey, honey, you lost? Going to a convention?” one of the men said to her.

She only understood a bit of that, but she knew the tone: they were disrespecting her. She would have to make an example of one of them. She lifted her hand and… nothing. She still felt the Force around her, but it was different, subtler. Weaker? She was not sure. She also seemed to be unarmed. She looked them over and judged this would not be a problem.

Another of the men walked up to her. He leered at her. “Maybe we can help you out?”

She grinned at him. “Maybe you can. But I think I will probably have to hurt you first.”

“What?”

She jabbed him hard in the abdomen, and kicked him in the knee, not quite hard enough to break it. He fell to the ground. The other two were saying something, and were grabbing at her. One of them caught her cloak, so she punched him in the throat and he went down. 

She had to remember that she might need them alive, and relatively intact, and that slowed her long enough for the last one to punch her hard in the face. But he was too close, strong but unskilled, overconfident even after she had already beaten his two friends. She brought a knee up, and he fell groaning.

She bent down to the first one, pulled his head up by the hair, and told him, “Now, you’re going to tell me where I am, and what I will need in order to make my way here. If you don’t, one of the others will. Do you understand?”

The man tried to nod. She released him and stood.

She smiled. She did not know what had happened, but she was alive, she thought, and this place looked like it might be fun.  
\---  
Elsewhere, the Machine began generating errors. This woman was an anomaly, something unaccounted for. She would need to be analyzed, observed, fit into the world, and that would take some time. Meanwhile, a similar anomaly appeared down at the docks.


	2. Burning Bridges

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azula is thoroughly beaten, has lost everything, and has succumbed to despair. A mysterious voice intervenes.

She had lost everything. Her childhood friends were gone, relationships never to be repaired. Her father had abandoned her, proving he never truly cared. Her mother mocked her from the mirror, saying she loved her, something Azula knew was not true. Her brother hated her, or, worse, pitied her. He would take the throne. If she hadn’t struck at the water tribe peasant, she would have lost her battle with him. And then she’d been beaten by that same water tribe peasant. She was bound. She could no longer hide her weakness, and she wept openly for the first time she could remember.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in her mind. “You have expended your chances. Come to me, and I will give you another.”

Another chance. She did not know who this was, but she would take it. She thought back, hoping she would be heard, “How? I’m beaten, I’m bound, how would I come to you?”

Katara and Zuko noticed she had stopped crying out. Zuko stepped forward, said, “Sister? Are you alright?”

She didn’t hear him, she only heard that voice. “I will help you be free.”

Suddenly, her mind was filled with new perceptions. Her bindings were not whole things, but made up of pieces bound together, pieces that shook, vibrated. That movement, itself, was fire. Fire, that she had spent her entire life learning to master. Fire she could manipulate. Force to obey her wishes. She flexed her bound arms.

And, with that, her chains were broken.

She laughed and unleashed a wave of fire, driving Zuko and the girl back. “Well, Zuzu, I am now.” A burst of flame threw her to the rooftops. “I’m glad the girl was able to save you. I cheated, you win. Have fun ruling the kingdom.”

They had been getting ready to strike, but they both stopped at that. Zuko simply said, “What?”

“You heard me. Be good to Mai.” She leapt into the sky, using her own skill and the power of Sozin’s Comet to fly off. This was still the low point of her life, but she laughed.

Zuko and Katara looked at one another, confused, but did not pursue.  
\---  
Azula had flown for several hours, out over the ocean. She knew where she needed to go, she knew it would exhaust her, but she flew on. Finally, she saw it. An island, where the voice was coming from. She flew down and landed, nearby, where she was directed. She found she could no longer keep her feet, and sagged to the outcropping.

The island opened its eyes and looked at her. She stared back. She wasn’t frightened, she told herself. That would be too much. She said, “So, you are the voice? A giant lion turtle? Or is this just another vision, like Mother?”

“I am real. My offer stands. Do you accept?”

She hesitated for a moment. Perhaps this had been a bad idea. Then she stood, looked defiantly into those massive eyes, and replied, “Yes. Show me this new chance.”

“I can show you how to claim it, but you will have to take the risk. Fire is in all things in the universe. It is also in all things between universes. You can use your power to leave this place, if you are in balance. Focused. If you try, and you are out of balance, the attempt will kill you.” It reached down with two of its claws and gently touched her forehead. “The technique is now yours. I wish you luck, child.”

She stood still and watched as the creature swam off.

She thought for a time. Was it worth the risk? Death, or leaving everything she knew behind?

Yes. Yes it was. All she had left here was pain. She began the dance that would allow her to leave it behind. Several times, she felt herself slipping, pulled herself back from the brink of destroying herself, but she kept on. Finally, she pried open a doorway between worlds, smiled, wreathed herself in fire, and was gone.

She was on a dock, surrounded by massive ships the likes of which she had never seen. There was a small ring of flames around her. She smiled again, and walked off.

Elsewhere, the Machine continued to observe these anomalies. The disruptions were becoming dire. Something needed to be done, and soon.

Epilogue: The new Firelord and his friends searched for his sister for some time, but never found her. Her former friends were sad that she was gone, even after their last confrontation. They all hoped she had found a life worth living, and was content.


	3. What Was Unbreakable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claudia's introduction.

He was gone. She couldn’t believe it. He had understood, and cared, but he had still left. She couldn’t. The choice had paralyzed her.

What was she going to do?

He had called their father evil. The father he had needed for so long. She had stayed because of how much Soren needed him.

Hadn’t she?

But which of them really needed Viren? Which of them was really the most like him?

Is that what he thought of her? That she was evil?

She fell to her knees, set her bag down in front of her.

First, she pulled out the bottle, the one with that adorable little plant, setting it aside. Maybe someone would find it and take it home.

She laid down all the things she had collected, bits of magical creatures, the source of her power. The only way humans could do magic. She knew this. How unfair it was. How the magical races had kept it from them, hoarded it for themselves.

It didn’t matter any longer.

She began tearing the pages from her book, one by one. Placing them with the objects of power. Preparing herself.

She knew what he’d done, and that he’d lied to her about it. What he had planned to do to Soren proved it.

How could he have wanted to do that to his own son? And how had she believed him over her own brother?

Finally, she knew what she would do as the words coalesced in her mind, and she smiled.  
\---  
Viren eventually found her, at the edge of the camp. He still carried both the worm and the staff.

She was surrounded by black dust from a spell she had cast. A great deal of it. Torn pages fluttered around her.

She knelt in the center of it. She did not turn. She crackled with power.

“Be careful, Viren, we still need her.”

He wished his ally would be silent. “Claudia, I know he hurt you. I understand.”

“No, you don’t.” She sounded as though she had been crying. Of course she did.

“Please, we have to move forward. We have no choice, whatever Soren has done.”

“No, Dad. I stayed for him. I sacrificed for him. For us, to keep us all together. So you would love both of us.”

“I do love you. I love both of you. You know that.”

“If you’d loved him, you would have been proud of him. He needed that so much, he would have done anything for you. And you asked him to, didn’t you?”

“Claudia, please, is this about what he said? You know he sometimes gets confused.”

He was going to say more, but she cut him off. “If you’d loved me, you wouldn’t have made me choose. Wouldn’t have lied to me to get me on your side.”

He took another step towards her. He didn’t want to hurt her, but she had to be stopped. Whatever she was doing was dangerous. To her. To him. To his plans and his army.

She continued, her voice cracking. “And if I’d loved him enough, I would have believed him.”

He reached for her.

“I couldn’t choose. And, now he’s gone. They’re all gone. None of them will ever forgive me.”

Viren could hear the worm again, urging him to lie, to do anything to salvage this. He realized it was much too late.

“Because of you!” Claudia shouted. She turned, her eyes blackened by her power, and lashed out. Tendrils of smoke wrapped around the staff, pulling it from his hands, pushing him away.

“No, what are you doing?”

She took the staff and lifted it over her head, as though preparing to swing it to the ground. “You took my brother from me. I am going to take this from you!”

“How? You know the staff’s power. It’s unbreakable!”

He realized that was the wrong thing to say, again too late. She grinned up at him. “Yes, and unbreakable is just another kind of breakable.”

She spoke, words even Viren did not know, but the worm began shouting at him in panic, “Run! Run now!”

He ran, almost too late. The blast caught him, throwing him a dozen feet through the air, scorching his robes and skin.

Some of his troops, still human, drawn by the explosion, rushed to his side, lifting him to his feet. They searched the scorched ground where Claudia had been. All that was left of the staff were useless, drained shards. Nothing was left of any of the components she had used, or of her book of notes and spells.

Of Claudia, the only trace she had ever been was a shadow burnt into the ground.  
\---  
Miles away, Soren looked down from the mountain, seeing even from that distance the explosion, feeling the loss. He fell to his hands and knees, gasping for breath, tears falling to the dusty floor.

Callum also felt it, and helped him to his feet, called Ezran over and told him what had happened. Ezran hugged him around the waist, and they joined him in tears. Rayla placed her hand on Callum’s shoulder, trying to comfort him, and he put one hand on hers.

The dragons and the sun elves, though they did not share the grief for this fallen enemy, one who, like her father, would destroy them for power, for jealousy, still did their best to console these humans who had brought the Prince back to them, who would have fought for them.

The troops Viren had transformed, deprived of the Sun’s power, returned to their human forms. They realized what he had done to them, that he had sacrificed who they were to make his army, and turned away from the magical lands. They no longer trusted him or the creature he had unleashed on the world.

The war was over, having done far too much damage already, with only one more family being sacrificed to it, the family that had caused the worst of it.

Viren was alone, abandoned even by his ally. Scarred by his own uses of power and by whatever it was his daughter had done. He finally wept, also, for everything he had given up, only to fail at the end.

Did he ever truly realize that the real loss was more profound than his ambitions? Perhaps. Perhaps even at that moment. But this is not a story about him, or even the many people he had tried so hard to destroy.

It is about the girl that he almost had.  
\---  
Claudia opened her eyes. The flash had dazzled her for a time, but now her vision was clearing, and she couldn’t believe what she saw. Where was she?

There were people milling about her, dozens of humans in strange clothes, in strange contraptions speeding down smooth roads. Humans surrounded by what had to be magic, towers of glass reaching to the sky. How was any of this possible?

She walked to one of the buildings, looked at herself in the glass. Fully half her hair was white, now, her face smudged with ash, her clothes tattered. Still, perhaps she had been given another chance. Without her father, or her brother. She did not know how she felt about that, but it was a chance, and she would take it.  
\---  
The Machine received notification of the third anomaly, a short video of her before she disappeared into the crowd. She began recalculating, again. Now, unless more appeared, it was time to send her agents, if only to observe.


End file.
